Baltasar Kormákur has potential for versatility, his previous work ranging from Scandinavian grit to Hollywood action. His two films I’ve seen centre on brave men, but this time, Kormákur sets his protagonist within a romantic setting. In depicting a protagonist, Kristofer Hanneson (Egill Ólafsson), flying for love despite of COVID, Touch is somehow Kormákur’s best film so far. This film shows that a threatening illness prompts Kristofer to travel to England and Japan to find his first love, Miko (Koki).

Kormákur flashes back to two moments in Kristofer’s life – the first is a satisfactory life in 2000s Iceland. The second is life in England during the late 1960s when he was a young Econ student (Pálmi Kormákur Baltasarsson). Obviously there are more scenes showing England than maybe early 21st century Iceland, but it does a lot with those little scenes. He marries an Icelandic woman, but he’s stuck. He mentally returns to his books and memorabilia that takes him back to a surprisingly multicultural England.

This multicultural hodgepodge film gets its story from an international bestselling novel from an Icelandic writer. An Icelandic writer and a mostly British setting gives it two big filters in depicting Japanese culture. I usually turn my radar on in these situations but Touch passes my multicultural smell test. It respectfully depicts a man integrating himself within a pocket of the Japanese diaspora in Britain. A lot of factors are at play here but credit is due to both actors playing Kristofer.

Touch‘s Icelandic protagonist, the younger version, has life to him specifically because of Baltasarsson’s chameleon-like performance. His performance as Kristofer makes the character fit well within groovy London, a guy who’s all smiles. Kristofer reminds Miko of John Lennon, a difficult energy to exude but Baltasarsson somehow accomplishes this. There are also moments where he carries his Icelandic heritage within, making him a totally relatable character. It makes sense, then, that Miko and the rest of their Japanese friends connect with him.

The two Krisofers are our window into many cultures and timelines, a layered period piece, and even the ‘present day’ scenes feel like a period piece because of how it depicts COVID. Touch strikes a delicate balance of a man getting what he wants without seeming like an entitled boomer. The way he holds on to his love makes him seem like a romantic type. In times when we need escape, romantic characters like Kristofer and Miko are what cinema needs.

Touch comes in select Canadian theatres.